History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 140

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 140
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 140

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

JOHN WEEKLY was born February 13, 1813; reared a farmer, and obtained a common school education. April 23, 1835, he was married to Miss Catharine Beckett, who was born July 11. 1813. By this union were twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, six of whom are living. After his marriage he lived on a farm in Smith township, remaining one year; then lived in Morrow county a few years. In 1856 he moved back to Smith township, on a farm known as the Byron farm, located on sec- tion 16. He purchased it in 1866, and still resides thereon. He and his wife are members of the Centreville M. E. church.

HENRY NEFF, a son of George and Margaret Neff, was born March 3, 1811 ; received a common school education, and worked with his father on the farm. In 1833 his father gave him a tract of land on section 4, upon which Henry set to work to

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

clear and improve. Through dint of industry he soon had a pleasant home, and acquired means to secure land in Mead town- ship. In October, 1844, he and Miss Matilda Hall were married. Their union resulted in seven children, three sons and four daughters; five are living, as follows: Susan E., now the wife of Dr. McMaster, of Centreville; Dorcas A., now the wife of John A. Thompson, near St. Clairsville; Jane L., Margaret, M. C., and Henry A. Our subject followed farming and speculating in land. He and his wife united with the Jacobsburg M. E. church. On December 29, 1865, his wife died, aged 49 years. He has remained a widower ever since.

ROBERT M. DENT was born in Belmont county, December 25, 1843. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in company D, in the 47th Ohio ; was under command of General Pope, and while with him was engaged in several battles; was at the engage- ment at Oxford under General Grant. In 1863 he enlisted as a veteran under Colonel Swain, and was in a number of engage- ments; started with Sherman on his "march to the sea," and was in the principal battles in that campaign. In August, 1865, he was honorably discharged, returned to his home and assisted his father in farming. On February 21, 1867, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Simpson, who was born September 12, 1848. They have a family of six children, two sons and four daugh- ters; one dead. In 1871, he purchased a farm on a part of sec- tion 9, upon which he moved and has resided ever since. He and wife are members of the Jacobsburg M. E. church.

HISTORY OF GOSHEN TOWNSHIP.

This is one of the inland townships of Belmont county. It lies about fifteen miles west of St. Clairsville and is the highest township in the county. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passes through it from east to west, entering near the north east corner, and running a little south of west, leaves it near the middle of its western line.

The surface configuration is a high rolling land-in many places. These hills are indented by countless numbers of ravines which checker the whole country, and intersect each other in every variety of way, whith their little rivulets and brooks, that are formed by springs of clear, pure, water, issuing forth along the bases of the hillsides, and winding their way along these every varying paths, babbling as they go. The scenery of the whole, as viewed from the higher points, is highly picturesque, and beautiful. The union of these pretty little rivulets, and brooks, as they eventually make their way southwardly, form creeks and streams, that have a water power of some value. In an early day this water power was of great benefit to the pio- neers, who utilized it by crecting mills along these streams, that supplied most of the breadstuffs used by their families.

It is a noticeable fact that there is but very little valley or bottom land along the streams, the steep hillsides-especially along the smaller streams-running nearly to the water's edge.

MINERAL RESOURCES.

The whole township is underlaid with strata of Bituminous coal. These strata are of various thickness. The one most available is about four feet thick and is known as the Barnesville vein.

It lies nearly horizontal but slightly dips toward the north west and crops out near the bottom of the deeper ravines. This vein is worked more or less in most parts of the township, but the principal banks are about two miles north of Burr's Mills, at a place called Badgersburg. About fifty thousand bushels are annually sold at these mines. The land having been mostly cleared of its timber, the people use coal almost exclusively for fuel ; it is used for culinary as well as domestic purposes. Be- neath this cool formation is a stratum of water lime or cement rock, but this has not been utilized yet, to any extent.

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The soil is a loamy clay, and produces well, all the crops that are useful to man, such as wheat, corn and all the other grains and grasses. Tobacco grows exceedingly well, and has been grown here from time, almost, immemorial-as a money crop. Its cultivation is still continued on a considerable scale, and the tall log houses in which they cure, or dry it by fire, are to be seen all over the township.

The original timber that covered the land was white oak, black oak, chestnut, poplar and hickory. Three-fourths of these forests have been cleared away, and the land put in cultivation.

The lands of Goshen all belonged to the general government and was within the first seven ranges northwest of the Ohio river. Section two was reserved by the government, and after- wards sold at $4 an acre ; the other lands were sold at $2 an acre. The last lot sold in Goshen township was entered by David Heskett in 1827, and is now the residence of John Bolon.

CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.

The first settlers in Goshen township hardly found it a land flowing with milk and honey, but one covered with a dense for- est of timber ; the branches of the trees interlaced and festooned by the twining vines of the wild grape, which grew every where, while the tops of the smaller undergrowth of brush was covered with their foliage, as if nature had been trying her hand in cov- ering the land with awnings of green, presenting difficulties to be encountered that would have dismayed men of less nerve than these, but they bravely met and overcome all the obstacles nature had seemingly placed in their way. There were, how- ever, some favoring circumstances ; the land was covered over with the wild pea and other forage plants, which proved so ben- eficial to the pioneer, in making provender for his stock. The soil also seemed genial; yielding bountiful crops with little labor, and readily supplying the breadstuffs for the sustenance of his family and other purposes, while the countless numbers of deer, wild turkeys, and other smaller game easily supplied the family with a very considerable portion of its meats. These ad- vantages were to some extent counterbalanced by other annoy- ances. Unnumbered multitudes of wolves, bears, panthers, foxes and wildcats and other prey, lurked in the thickets of the hills, and in the hiding places in the deep and secluded ravines along the valleys, to issue forth at night and prowl around the farmers' premises seeking what they might devour. The only safe motto for the farmer was, "eternal vigilenco is the price of safety." Ofall these beasts of prey, wolves were the most trouble- some; for, besides making night hideous by their doleful howls over the hill tops and through the valleys, these audacious ani- mals would approach the farmers' dwellings and carry off small hogs and sheep, that were enclosed in pens that were joined to the houses themselves. Sometimes they would even venture to poke their noses into the cracks between the logs of the build- ing, or the door.

In these early days men had to work late and early ; so did all the family, and the child that could lift a brush and pile it, had to do so. George N. Burns, a respected citizen, and now vener- able in years, so briefly and tersely related to the writer a little incident that so vividly brought to mind early days, that he can- not refrain from relating it: Little George was about seven years old, and had been picking brush on a bright pleasant day in the early fall, after his father, who had been grubbing in the woods some distance from the house. Tired with his day's work, as the early twilight began to appear, he sat down at the foot of a tree to rest and enjoy the still cool atmosphere of the quiet October evening, waiting for his father to quit and go home. Presently the insects of the lonely woods began to chant their solemn matinee among the ferns that grew all around him, and as the gathering shades of night began to deepen, the wolves on all the surrounding hills joined in their doleful howls, which so overcome his young mind that he burst into tears, and had to be taken home. He says the impressions of his feelings on that evening remain as vividly in his memory as the day the event happened.

Another annoyance was the great numbers of reptiles that infested the country, the most troublesome of which were the big yellow rattlesnake and copperhead, whose poisonous bites frequently injured, and sometimes proved fatal to stock. The rattlesnake has disappeared ; the copperhead is occasionally met with yet.

But the time had come when these wild denizens of the forest, as well as the scarcely less wild red man should be overwhelmed and disappear before the resistless advance of civilization, their abodes be made to blossom as the rose, and become the happy homes of white men.

About 1800, or a little earlier, was seen the first cabin in Goshen township. Presently other cabins were here and there to be seen among the trees, along the hillsides, and in the little valleys, with small patches of cleared land around them. The number of cabins now increased yearly, and the fields gradually extended; the smoke from the clearings rising above the forests

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

in all directions; while dim paths or roads scarcely visible, wound their devious ways among the trees; the traveler being guided more by marks or "blazes" on them, than by the outlines of the roads themselves. These things unmistakably indicated that a lodgement had been made by the white man.

These early cabins were very primitive in their construction. They were built of round logs with roofs of loose clapboards, held in place by the weight of small, straight, round logs, called weight poles.

The chimney was made by cutting out the logs at one end of the house, like a wide door, behind which was built a frame work of slabs or logs, as high as the mantel, at which point it was contracted, and thence built up above the top of the roof, with split lath well laid in with clay mortar, and was also plas- tered inside with the same material. This is what was called the old stick chimney. Inside of the frame work were built at the back and sides walls of stone to protect it from the fire. These were called the backwall and jams. Within these walls were piled plentiful quantities of wood, that made the fires that warmed the building. The floors were made of puncheons split in the shape of planks, and smoothed down and straightened with the broadaxe.

The upper floors were generally made of clapboards loosely laid upon the joists, which were commonly of round logs. The doors were also made of clapboards pinned upon a frame work ; sometimes, however, a quilt or blanket was made to answer the purpose of a door.

The dress of the early pioneers was equally plain, being of material manufactured at home. The wool from their little flocks of sheep was carded by hand cards, spun into yarn and woven into cloth by the female members of the family for win- ter clothing for themselves, as well as for the male members ; while for summer wear, flax and the tow therefrom, was by the same hands manufactured into linen goods ; the flax being made into finer cloth for Sunday clothes, and the tow into coarser cloth for every-day wear.

The ladies gathered from the coal banks a material that made a copperas color, with which they colored the thread to "stripe" the linen designed for their own dresses, which they considered somewhat stylish, but when they learned to checker the stripes, and make plaid, they considered they had reached a high point in the art of tasty dressing.

Young ladies thus attired in neat copperas colored plaid linen dresses, manufactured and made by their own hands, and the young men clothed in cloth of the same material, but made plain, would gaily sally forth to church, or other public gatherings, with hearts as light and happy and pure, perhaps, as the mod- ern lady decked with jewels and arrayed in costly silks, with flounces and long train behind, or the modern young gent who adorns himself in faultless clothes, gold watch chains and finger rings.

The buttons for pants and heavier clothes were made of pew- ter, run in moulds made for the purpose, while buttons for shirts and lighter clothes were made of linen thread.

In collecting the material for this article, the writer stopped at the house of a pioneer, and while "taking notes," the lady of the house made a perfect old-fashioned thread button, and presented it to him, which is kept as a memento of the olden time.

FIRST SETTLERS.

It is difficult now to decide, with certainty, who was the first settler in Goshen township, or in what year he came. The probability is, however, that it was John Adams, and that he came in 1797 to 1800, and settled on section 1, southeast corner, on the farm owned by Abel Ray. It is said by some that he squatted on Congress land five years before any other settler came; that he lived eight years withont seeing an apple, and that he lived on corn meal and pounded hominy; that some hunters came along one day and gave the children some biscuit, but not knowing what they were for, used them for playthings.

The most authentic account of the carly settlers is gathered from a diary kept by the late Nehemiah Wright, whose father came from Ireland and settled early in 1802 on the land where the village of Belmont now stands,

From this diary we learn that William Philpot, Ralph Heath and Joseph Wright. jointly-per William Philpot-entered Sep- tember 4, 1802, at Steubenville, section 12, township 7, range 5. At this time land could not be entered in less quantities than sections.

There is reason to believe that this was the first land entered in Goshen township, for the diary goes on to say, " there were I-51-B. & J. Cos.

four squatters on Congress land when these men came. These squatters were Joseph Dunlap, Christian Wyman and Keeler, on Stillwater, and John Adams, who lived on the Bend fork of Captina creek, on the southwest corner of the southeast . quarter of section 1, township 7, range 5." This diary, taken in connection with the verbal reports, renders it more than probable that John Adams was the first white man that ever settled in this township. The next settler was, perhaps, John Gregg, who came in November, 1802. George and John Ewers came in 1803 or 1804. Darling Conrow probably entered a sec- tion of land in 1804, at what is now called Burr's Mills. David Fawcett and Ezekiel Smith came in 1805. Joseph Danner and Nathaniel McNichols came sbout 1806-7, and William Phillips, Stephen Gregg and George N. Burns came near the same time.

From this time forward the tide of emigration was steady, and the township rapidly settled up. The date at which the town- ship was organized cannot be ascertained with certainty, nor a chronological list of the Justices of the Peace had, because the township records extends no further back than 1835, the pre- vious records having been sold to a paper maker in Wheeling as useless rubbish. It is probable, however, that it was organ- ized about 1809 or 10, and that the name Goshen was given it, at the suggestion of Jesse White and a few others who had em- igrated from Goshen township, Chester county, Pennsylvania.

We learn further from Wright's diary that Joseph Wright planted, April 20, 1804, the first orchard in the township, con- taining fifty trees of natural fruit, that he cleared seven acres of land, which he planted in corn on the 17th day of May, 1803, and that a snow fell three feet deep January 21, 1804.

The first church in the township was probably the Friends ; the deed to them for their grounds being executed March 16, 1808.

The place where the Indians who captured the two Wetzel boys, Lewis and Jacob, encamped for the night, and from where the boys made their escape, is believed to be on the farm now owned by Hendly Gregg, near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad about midway between Burr's Mill's and Burton's station. A review of the historians who have mentioned the incident, and a personal examination of the ground, convinces us that this was the place of their encampment that night.

The sad death of James Shannon, father of ex-governor Shan- non, occurred in this township. The details will be found elsewhere in this work.

A few years ago John E. Hunt, in cutting down a large poplar tree, found chips taken out, with an axe, near the heart of it, to- wards each of the cardinal points of the compass. Mr. O. A. Dowdell, near whose residence the tree grew, counted the growths since it was boxed, and it ran back to 1782, the year of Crawford's expedition against the Sandusky Indians.

Henry Lamp built the first mill in the township, on the Ben- fork of Captina creek, and Jacob Lamp built the second mill on another branch of the same creek. Horse mills were used be- fore water mills were erected, and even afterwards in dry seasons. The flour made at these early mills was bolted by hand.

The last deer killed in the township was in 1832, at what was called a circular fox hunt. The territory within the limits of the circle embraced the whole township. The last bear was killed by Samuel Russell.

BELMONT.

This was the first village laid off in the township. Joseph Wright came from Dublin, Ireland, and settled where Belmont now stands in 1802, and in 1808 laid ont a town, on the same plan as his native city-Dublin. The town plat was recorded by Sterling Johnston, in book B., page 288, Angust 8, 1808. Here was, perhaps, the first church organization in the town - ship, "The Friends' Church." The deed for their lot and grave yard is dated March 16, 1808, and here was built the first school house in the township. It was a cabin house, and Joseph Wright, who commenced a school in May, 1807, was the first teacher. The first store was owned by Nathan Pusey, ou lot 45. It was a hewed log house, one and one-half stories high, and was used as a dwelling house as well as a store room. The building still stands, and is occupied as a dwelling by the Misses Lowry. The first death was that of Mrs. Hannah Wright, wife of Joseph Wright who died May 25, 1805, and was buried at Plainfield. Josepli Wright was the first post master, his commission bear- ing date March 25, 1818.

The first burial, in the Friends' burying ground, was Mary Tompkins, in 1817.

The first school house in Belmont was a cabin (round logs) ;

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

the second a hewed log house; the third a frame, built about 1836; the fourth a brick, built in 1861; the fifth a brick also, and built in 1875, and now in use. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad passes through the village.

Belmont contains two dry goods stores, two grocery stores, one drug store, three hotels, two blacksmith shops, one tin and hardware store, one sale stable for horses, and two churches, the M. P. church and the M. E. church, and contains a population of about 350 inhabitants.

FAIRMOUNT-BURR'S MILLS.

This village lies on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, about two miles west of Belmont and six miles east of Barnesville. It is at or near the highest point on the line of the railroad be- tween Wheeling and Zanesville, being about 483 feet above the former place, and 600 feet higher than the latter.

When the railroad company located their road in 1852, Mer- rick S. Burr put up a saw mill, and the company made a sta- tion here and called it Burr's Mills, in honor of the proprietor of the saw mill. Afterward, in 1855, Mr. Burr laid off a village, which he called Fairmount, from its high and beautiful location.

Previously to this, there was a store kept about two miles south, near Bethesda church, and a postoffice, named after the church. William Patterson was proprietor of the store and the postmaster.

After the village was laid off, Mr. Patterson, in 1854, removed his store to it, and by common consent the postoffice was also removed, but retained its name of Bethesda. Thus the name proper of the village is Fairmount, the railroad station Burr's Mills, and the postoffice Bethesda. The place is, however, more generally known as Burr's Mills.

In 1855, Messrs. McNicholls, Frost and Martin built a steam flouring mill which is still in successful operation, but now owned by Edward Combs.

Just north of, and adjoining the village, is a beautiful grove of 18 acres of land, belonging to the M. E. Church, set apart and used as a campmeeting ground. These premises have forty or fifty neat little cottages built on them for the use of those attend- ing. They are also well supplied with ample quantities of pure, clear water, that flows from never failing springs on the grounds.

The premises are within five hundred yards of the station, and well adapted to the purposes for which they are used, and are capable of accommodating ten or twelve thousand people. Campmeetings are held here yearly. This society has near their grounds a neat frame church edifice, in which they hold regular worship. It is called Shirer Church, in honor of Rev. John Shirer, an esteemed minister, who once served the congregation as their pastor.

The village school house, a good brick structure stands near this church.

The population of the village is about 150. There are two dry goods stores, two grocery stores, two blacksmith shops, a steam flouring mill, two hotels, one church, two doctors, and a lodge of Sons and Daughters of Temperance, and a good district school graded in three departments in winter, and two in sum- mer.

THE FRIENDS.

These pious people were quite numerous in this township in early times, and they had several meeting houses, where worship was regularly held, but their numbers have been so thined out by removals and deaths, that their organizations have ceased, and their meeting houses are abandoned and torn away. There are, however, a number of families of that faith still remaining, but they have united with other churches of their faith outside of Goshen township. In fact, the first church organized within the township, was probably the Friends Church at Belmont. Their deed for a lot for a meeting house and grave yard was executed March 16, 1808, and it appears they met for worship at the school house previous to this time.

In the earlier days of the township the Society of Friends, seems to have had two churches within its limits-one at the village of Belmont, called the Belmont church, the other in the southwestern part of the township, called the Center church.

The church at Belmont held their first meetings there, in the log school house, till about 1808 or 1809, when they built them- selves a brick church, in which they continued to meet for wor- ship till about 1828 or 1829, when occurred the great schism, brought about by the preaching of Elias Hicks, that rent asun- der the Society of Friends throughout the land, from which sprang up two parties, called Hicksites and Orthodox.

The Belmont church also had its division of Hicksites and Or- thodox; the Hicksites being in the majority, held the property. The Orthodox party then built a log church on the waters of McMahon's creek, about a mile and a half northeast of the vil- lage, in which they held regular meetings for some years, but becoming scattered, their meetings ceased, and the organization and building were abandoned.

The Hicksites continued regular worship in the brick build- ing at the village for many years, till finally its members becom- ing weakened in numbers by removals and other canses, regu- lar meetings were no longer held, and the organization was abandoned. The church building itself was sold and removed, and nothing now remains but the cemetery, which is still used as a burial place for the dead.

The Center church shared a fate similar to the one at Bel- mont. It was divided into Hicksites and Orthodox parties. The Hicksites held the church building by superiority of numbers, and the Orthodox party built another church about three-fourths of a mile from the old one, where they held meetings for a while, but their organization finally ceased, and their meeting house is now occupied by a private family. The original building held by the Hicksites was abandoned and torn away, and nothing remains but the cemetery, which is still used.

EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 140

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728